Houston McLaury – Opinion Columnist

For every month of the year, there is something to look forward to. For the summer months of June, July, and August, it’s the break and warmth that summer brings that gives these months value. The fall months of September, October, and November bring cozy feelings, falling leaves, spiced drinks, and dark nights that bring the richest of atmospheres into homes. For the winter months of December, January, and February there is the wonder and beauty of the snow, and the holiday breaks we receive. But for the first month of spring, March, it offers us Minnesotans nothing useful. It is a month of dread, misery, and pain, compared to the pleasant warmth and comfort that the spring months of April and May bring. March offers a mixture of snow and rain, the horrid mixing of the seasons of winter and spring, and for the students at Gustavus, it is the month-long trek into midterms, one of the most dreaded times for any college student. And this current March has been nothing different from the past Marches I have been tasked to endure just to see the wonder of spring. 

My first quarrel with this accursed month is the weather. As we have already experienced within these first few weeks, the weather flips and flops between dreadfully snowy and cold, and mildly warm and rainy. Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the rain. I live for the rain, as it adds so much to the mood of any given day, but in the month of March, it adds nothing. The temperature, never reaching above 50 degrees Fahrenheit makes the rain a pain, a bother, and a hassle while taking all the enjoyment out of the rain. Not only that, but thanks to the freezing temperatures, this rain often freezes on the roads, and near buildings, making walking or driving a dangerous game of slip and slide. 

Then there is the snow. Sure, for the months of winter, the layering of snow may seem nice, with all of its romanticism regarding the activities one can do in it, but by March, it has all grown ugly and useless. The snow is mixed with dirt and sand, creating wonderfully horrible artwork across the sides of roads and sidewalks. Meanwhile, the snow has frozen over, making it impossible to walk through or enjoy regular winter activities such as sledding, snowman making, and snowball fights. If I could have snowball fights in March, I would look much kinder upon this dreaded month, but thanks to the snow becoming ice-like, there is nothing I can enjoy about this horrid month. The horrible look and the freezing of the snow add to my ever-growing hate for the month of March.
Then comes the dreaded deadline of midterms, a time of the year almost every college student resents. The midterms of a class can range from an essay to an hour-long test, on which a large percentage of a grade is based. It is a time of anxiety for those studying, and a time to buckle down and do the work assigned, allowing for little time to be spent with friends. Not only that, but during the month of March, classes start to ramp up, both in difficulty and in workload, since the month of February acted as the introduction to the course. This workload contributes again to the time students are allowed and allotted to spend with their friends. This, I believe, is the worst part of the month of March, the fact that time spent with friends and loved ones is so restricted due to the time one must spend on studying for midterms, and for their regular course loads. 

This all becomes worse once one realizes there is no real break allotted in March. True, there is the spring break offered on April 1st, but since it starts in the next month, it cannot count towards the March breaks. There are no breaks allowed since there is no major holiday offered in March. Sure, there is St. Patrick’s Day where one can gather with friends and enjoy their company, but there is no allotted break time offered, where classes are taken away. Compare this, meanwhile, to the fall semester. There is the Nobel Conference in September, where classes are forced to take a break, fall break in October, Thanksgiving break in November, and finally winter break in December. For each month of the fall semester, there are at least a few days of break, and yet in the month of March, there is none offered. 

All of these factors, of weather, ugly useless snow, workload, midterms, and no break all amount together to bring about the worst month in existence. Sure, there exists the holiday of St. Patrick’s day, but the bad heavily outweighs the good of this month, as it offers truly nothing for the average person to do. All throughout March I yearn for any other month because anything would be better than the suffering one must endure under the reign of March.